George Shultz and Richard Lugar Urge Standing by INF Treaty and Pursuing Dialogue

NTI Board
Member former Senator Richard Lugar and long-time NTI partner George Shultz
announced their support for preserving the INF treaty, citing the danger of a
potential nuclear arms race and the need for continued dialogue and
verification.

In an op-ed
published in The New York Times,
Shultz said: “We need to preserve the agreement rather than abandon it, as
President Trump has threatened to do. Indeed, we should invite other countries
to join the treaty and resist the temptation ourselves to develop new classes
of these deadly weapons. The first step would be to convene a meeting between
American and Russian experts to discuss possible violations of the treaty.”

Lugar released
a statement:
“President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Intermediate Nuclear
Forces (INF) Treaty is gravely misguided. Withdrawing will not make us safer,
it will rob us of leverage essential to our own security and power. … President
Trump and some of his top aides seem to be driven by the false belief that all
international treaties are bad for the United States and that we always end up
the loser. History and the facts show clearly that this is not the case. …These
treaties are not based on trust—they are based on verification.”

Their
comments echo elements of a
statement released by NTI Co-Chairs Sam Nunn and Ernest J. Moniz on
Monday, which added: “Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces (INF) Treaty is serious and requires a response, but the U.S. decision
to withdraw from INF is a serious mistake. … The United States and Russia must
resume dialogue and take concrete steps to decisively confront the problems
that threaten our security—or risk a catastrophic conflict.  Given the current state of West-Russia
relations, strategic engagement is essential, and steps to improve stability
cannot be based on trust.  They must be
verified.  Arms control structures have a
continuing and vital role to play going forward, and verification tools should
be used to bolster them when they are at risk.”

Read the
full statements here:

Statement
of Sen. Richard G. Lugar (Ret.) on Potential Withdrawal from INF Treaty
The Lugar Center
October
25, 2018

George
Shultz: We Must Preserve This Nuclear Treaty
The New York Times
October
25, 2018

Statement
from Ernest J. Moniz and Sam Nunn On U.S. Withdrawal from the INF Treaty
Nuclear Threat Initiative
October
22, 2018